


Fake it till you make it

by vonvoyage



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 20:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18289649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vonvoyage/pseuds/vonvoyage
Summary: When Eren had first brought it up, Jean had laughed so hard that he accidentally fell off the couch where he’d been lying.





	Fake it till you make it

**Author's Note:**

> Had this idea over 2 years ago but never got around to writing it and no one's more surprised than me that it actually even ended up happening after all this time. Too bad it's after the erejean fandom has completely died out lmao

When Eren had first brought it up, Jean had laughed so hard that he accidentally fell off the couch where he’d been lying. 

“Would you please stop laughing? I’m serious here!” And Eren looked equal parts sullen as embarrassed, which only caused Jean to laugh harder.

“Jean.” Eren drew out his name as he spoke in a petulant tone. Striking an eerily resemblance to some three-year-old child in Jean’s opinion.

“Okay, okay,” he eventually managed to get out in between his laughter, trying to collect himself as he sat back up on the couch. “So if I understand this correctly, you actually want me to go with you to your high school reunion and pretend to be your boyfriend?“

Eren was intently staring down at the living room table as he answered. 

“Yes.”

“You know Eren, it would really take an idiot like you to make things like this happen in real life,” Jean snickered.

“Says you, the person who once got so drunk you got up and danced on a table in the bar and ended up breaking it,” Eren retorted snidely.

Jean narrowed his eyes at him.

“I gave you ten bucks never to bring that up again.”

“Whatever, there’s no one else around to hear it anyway.”

“That’s not the point, a deal is a deal,” Jean told him. “I want my money back.”

“Ugh! Jean for fuck sake it’s not important.” Eren looked as if he was on the verge of leaning over to shake him. “I need you to do this for me.”

“Right well, I’ll make it easy for you then, because the answer is no.”

Eren didn’t look for one second as if he was going to accept his refusal to go.

“Oh come on, it’s only one night!”

“So? That’s one night I could spend doing something – really anything else – then going to some lame high school reunion,” Jean said in a bored tone. “Not to mention, why would I ever do something that stupid for you?”

“Because I’m asking you nicely?” Eren said hopefully.

Jean snorted, leaning back and propping his feet up on the table.

“I haven’t heard you ask nicely at all,” he drawled.

“Oh for fuck sake,” Eren said. “Do you want me to beg or something?”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt, would it?” Jean smirked at him.

For a moment he could see Eren debating with himself before he gave an irritated sigh.

“Fine, would you please pretend to be my boyfriend for my high school reunion?”

“See, wasn’t that hard was it?” Jean gave him a mocking smile.

Eren simply looked at him imploringly.

“So?”

“So what?” Jean replied with raised brows.

“You’ll do it then?”

“Absolutely not,” he said with a laugh.

“But you just said –”

“I never said anything about agreeing to go,” Jean interrupted him, “I just thought it’d be nice to see you beg a bit.”

“Jean, I swear to god.” Eren looked about ready to throttle him.

“Jesus, I don’t even see why it’s a big deal anyway,” he said, raising his hands in a sign of surrender. “Why can’t you just lie again and say that we broke up or that I couldn’t come. They won’t care.”

“No, because I already told them that you would come and Connie didn’t believe me when I said we were together so you have to be there so I can prove him wrong!”

“Oh? Why’s that? Thought I was out of your league?” Jean bragged.

“Of course he did! You’re a professional relatively well-known model, and I work in a damn coffee shop.”

Jean looked at him searchingly for a few moments.

“You’re just trying to butter me up, aren’t you?”

“Perhaps a bit,” Eren admitted. “Is it working?”

“Not really, but it’s nice to hear you say that you think I’m better than you,” Jean said with an air of superiority.

“Jean, seriously, come on,” Eren pleaded with him. “People always go to these reunions to brag about how much better their lives are than everyone else’s and I’ve done nothing exciting at all since high school. At least let me have a fake modeling boyfriend that I can show of.”

Jean sighed heavily as he looked into Eren’s desperate eyes. _God help him._

“Fine –”

“Yes! You can’t take that back!” Eren practically shot up from his seat in the armchair opposite him.

“Let me finish, “ Jean snapped. “I’ll do it, but you’ll have to do all the chores in the apartment for a month.”

“No problem, you got it!” Eren practically beamed at him and Jean wondered what exactly he’d gotten himself dragged into.

**o0o**

Eren proceeded to bug him practically constantly the coming week. Questions such as what Jean was going to wear to the event, and talking about what backstory they should make up for themselves.

“You’re overthinking this way too much,” Jean told him irritated, shoving him out of the way as Eren leaned over his shoulder while he was eating his lunch.

“We need to be prepared,” Eren insisted, leaning against the side of the table next to him instead.

“It’s like you’re preparing for an interrogation,” Jean said with a roll of his eyes.

“It might as well be!” 

Jean gave a sigh and put down his fork as he turned to look up at Eren.

“Just tell them what really happened. You met Marco, he put us in contact because I needed a new roommate and you moved in with me. Just add to the story and say we started dating or some shit. It doesn’t have to be that complicated and it’s easiest to stick as close to the truth as possible.”

Eren nodded his head, eyes wide in interest as he seemed to deliberate what he’d said.

 “Okay, good idea, but –”

“Eren, stop stressing for god’s sake. It’ll be fine,” Jean reassured him. “Now go away, you’re annoying the fuck out of me.”

**o0o**

As the day drew nearer, however, Eren very much did not stop stressing about it and Jean could feel himself not even able to receive any joy from watching him panic as Eren continued to annoy him with questions.

When the day finally arrived, Jean was even awoken an hour earlier than from when he’d set his alarm by Eren waking him, telling him to get ready.

“Fuck off, Jaeger,” he mumbled, turning his back to Eren as he burrowed down into his pillow, trying to chase after the remnants of sleep.

“I’ve made breakfast, come on, get up,” Eren urged him.

He attempted to simply ignore him but Eren stayed stubbornly seated at the edge of his bed.

“Jean,” he tried again and Jean inhaled sharply in-between gritted teeth.

“I’ll get up, okay, I’ll fucking get up.”

“Great, I made us pancakes! We should leave as soon as we’re ready.”

“You’re an annoying son of a bitch, I hope you know,” he grumbled and Eren either didn’t hear him to just pretended not to as he self-satisfied left the room.

**o0o**

They had to drive for several hours to get to Eren’s hometown and the whole thing turned into something of a small road trip. Eren had to drive of course, and Jean took charge of the music, plugging his phone in and letting them listen to the tunes of The Rolling Stones as they drove down the highway.

When they finally arrived at their hotel where they’d be spending the night, they unloaded their bags and Jean let himself fall back onto the bed closest to the window, claiming it as his own.

“This is kinda nice,” he commented, glancing at Eren who had taken a seat on the other bed opposite of him.

“Right? The food here is pretty good too, you want to grab something here or go out to eat?”

“No, here is good, then I’ll have time to take a small nap too before we actually have to leave for the reunion.”

“Okay, great, I can order some up to the room then,” Eren said, already reaching for the guestroom phone.

Jean simply held up a thumbs up in response.

**o0o**

When it was actually time and they arrived at the reunion there were already quite a few cars in the parking lot.

“You know how many people are coming to this thing?” He asked Eren, who shrugged, appearing to only half be listening as he nervously looked around.

“Should we go in or do you want to stay in the car a bit longer?” Jean couldn’t help but tease, and he could see how a flush traveled up Eren’s neck as he appeared to shake himself.

“No, let’s go inside,” he answered, avoiding looking at Jean as he exited the car.

They walked side by side up to the entrance and Jean then followed after Eren who led the way through the hallway to the open doors leading into the gymnasium. There were balloons outside and music coming from within. They passed some people as they walked and Eren was greeted by a few, but they didn’t stop to talk so Jean would guess that they didn’t exactly know each other more than by name.

Walking into the hall, Eren stopped for a moment to look around before apparently finding a familiar face, lifting his hand in a wave and starting to jog over.

“Aye, Reiner!” He called out excitedly, and Jean who didn’t really want to be left alone in a sea of people he didn’t know followed behind.

A tall and muscular man with short blonde hair turned to look, and when he saw Eren his face broke out into a large grin.

“Jaeger!” he greeted. “Been a while.”

“Could say that!” Eren said, “Jesus, you’ve bulked up even more since high school.” He leaned forward and actually gripped the muscles of Reiner’s bicep, feeling it while looking impressed.

The blonde laughed goodheartedly.

“I compete in weightlifting a bit actually,” he explained.

“Shit, really?” Eren asked with a grin. “I bet with a little you mean that you’ve actually won a bunch of competitions.”

“I may have won a few,” Reiner admitted, before looking behind Eren and meeting Jean’s eyes, who’d so far only hung back awkwardly.

“This guy with you?” He asked with a smile, and Eren seemingly remembering that he’d brought a plus one turned to Jean.

“Oh yeah, sorry. This is Jean,” he introduced, hesitating slightly before adding, “my boyfriend.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jean said, reaching his hand forward for a handshake, which Reiner took with a firm grip.

“Likewise,” he said. “ Connie actually mentioned you, I met him just a short while before you guys came. He said you apparently even live together so gotta be pretty serious.”

Before Eren could say anything, Jean put his arm around his shoulder, giving Reiner his most winning smile.

“You bet ya.”

“Congratulations then,” Reiner said, before glancing away just over their shoulders. “There’s Bertholdt, he just went to grab us both something to drink.”

Eren turned to look and removed himself from under Jean’s shoulder to greet the tall man coming to join them.

“Hoover! I think you’ve got even taller from last time I saw you,” he said with a laugh. “You still play basketball?”

“Good to see you too, Eren,” he said smiling, handing a drink over to Reiner. “And not really, don’t have much time for that outside of work.”

“Oh right, so what do you do know?”

Jean stayed in the background as he let the three old friends catch up, leaving it up to Eren to introduce him to Bertholdt as well, only adding a few comments when the topic got onto his modeling career. After chatting for a while they then excused themselves to go grab something to drink and some snacks to eat.

Eren walked relaxed at his side and Jean bumped into him lightly with his shoulder.

“Well, that wasn’t that bad, was it?” He asked.

“No, but Reiner and Bertholdt had always been pretty chill about everything,” Eren said offhandedly, eyes lighting up as he saw the snack table.

“Oh sweet, they’ve got sliders!” He exclaimed, leaning over to snatch one of the miniature burgers.

“Eren?” Jean looked to the side at the questioning tone and was met by a pair of light brown eyes. “And this must be the lover boy!” The woman announced excitingly, leaning forward to reach her hand out towards Jean.

“Sasha Blouse,” she introduced herself as and Jean shook her hand somewhat hesitantly.

“Jean. Nice to meet you.”

“I should have expected that you’d be where the food was,” Eren teased her, causing Sasha to turn back her attention to him.

“Of course, that’s like half the reason for going!” Then she looked back at Jean and appeared to be studying him as she popped some chips into her mouth.

“You know, we weren’t actually sure if Eren was maybe lying about you, but you actually are a couple then,” she said casually, still chewing, and Eren tensed slightly at his side.

“You should come over to our table. Connie, Historia, and Ymir is there too,” she told them, waving for them to follow her as she turned away and Jean gave Eren a small push to get him walking along.

When they got to the table, all eyes there turned to them. The one guy among the three, who Jean supposed had to be Connie, was the first to speak up.

“Hey, you actually did bring him!” He proclaimed, eyes switching between Eren and Jean.

“He sure did,” Jean said, putting his arm around Eren’s midsection and pulling him close to his side in a show of affection. He could feel how Eren stiffened somewhat and so he leaned down to whisper quietly in his ear.

“Relax, you idiot.” Then he faced the others again and spoke up again. “Seems like everyone here knows about me before I even get a chance to introduce myself.” He kept his tone light and jesting and the smallest of the girls with golden hair smiled at them.

“Aw, you guys look so cute together,” she said, before reaching her hand forward to Jean.

“I’m Historia, pleased to meet you.”

“Yeah, nice pull, Jaeger,” the tallest of the girls said, who Jean assumed then had to be Ymir, giving a nod of her head towards Jean and he felt as if he had to physically stop himself from blushing even as he puffed himself up.

_Damn right, he was a catch._

“Maybe I was a bit harsh on you, Eren, but I was really mostly joking around,” Connie said, “I mean to be fair it’s not every day that your friends get together with famous people.”

“Okay, Jean is not that famous,” Eren protested, seemingly slightly embarrassed.

“I’ve seen him on a fashion magazine cover, I’d say that’s pretty famous!” Connie responded.

“Yeah, I mean he’s well known but it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Wow, Eren, way to lift me up,” Jean said with a laugh and Eren turned to the side to look at him.

“Ah, I didn’t –” He broke off whatever it was he was about to say, and Jean wondered if it was because he too at that moment realized just how close and intimately they were currently standing, with Jean’s arm still embracing him and their faces only inches away from each other as a result.

For a second, the world around him faded into the background and the sound of his heartbeat was loud in his ears. He could swear there was a tension between them, like electricity.

“And now… kiss,” Sasha said, breaking Jean out of the daze.

When he felt Eren starting to pull away, and starting to speak to dismiss and joke away the moment, a part of him acted before the rest of him had time to fully think it over.

He leaned down, grabbing Eren by the back of his head to turn the brunette towards him again, and kissed him. Eren’s words were swallowed by his lips and he jerked beneath Jean’s grip. He was ready for Eren to pull away, but to Jean’s surprise, Eren did the complete opposite instead and fell fully into it.

Their tongues met and Jean had a stray thought of wondering what the hell he had just done, followed shortly by a thought of complete bliss.

When Eren’s hand pressed against his chest, grabbing the fabric of his shirt to pull him even closer, Jean felt as if he might have waited for this since the very beginning.

Then he became aware of the hollering and reluctantly pulled away, feeling suddenly too shy to meet Eren’s eyes, which he could feel were aimed straight at him.

Connie laughed, giving Eren a pat on the back.

“Okay, okay, Jesus, we believe you, Eren.”

“No, no, I say please keep going, I was enjoying myself,” Ymir said with a smirk, and Jean forced himself to appear unaffected and rolled his eyes in response.

“Yeah, okay, that’s all you’re getting for tonight folks,” he said, hoping that the tension between him and Eren wasn’t too noticeable. They were still standing close together, even though Jean had now dropped his arm, and neither of them attempted to move further apart. The place where their shoulders pressed against each other felt warm and he was painfully aware of every single shift of Eren’s body.

Jean couldn’t begin to imagine what Eren was thinking and it made him nervous since he wasn’t sure what type of shaky ground they’d just walked out on. Perhaps he was overthinking it and nothing would change at all, perhaps they would just write this off and never mention it again more than to joke about it. The only problem with that idea was that Jean wasn’t exactly sure if that was something he’d be able to do. It felt very much as if the very foundation on which his friendship with Eren rested on had collapsed, and that wasn’t something that he could simply build back up. Pandora’s box had been opened, so to speak.

At least the attention after that shifted away from the two of them and on to the others, and Jean could feel himself slowly loosening up. Eren too appeared to let it go, shifting to enthusiastically catching up with his old friends about their lives.

The night after that actually passed with relative ease, with neither of them bringing up the kiss at any point and Eren introducing him to some additional people as the evening went on. When the reunion drew to a close, however, and people began to make their way home, Jean started to glance over at Eren in what he hoped was not an obvious manner. Eren still didn’t mention it, not even after they’d themselves made their goodbyes and walked in silence back to the car, and Jean started to think that maybe they really wouldn’t bring it up ever again. Or maybe that he should simply stop being a coward and do it himself.

But as they got into the car, Eren paused before putting the key in the ignition. For a moment no one said anything and Jean waited with bated breath. Then Eren turned to him, inhaling audibly.

“You didn’t need to do that, you know,” he said, trying to search through Jean’s eyes. There was no need to clarify exactly what he meant by _that_ , they both knew perfectly well what he was referring to. “Like if you did it to keep up the act or something.”

Jean steeled himself before answering. _Like ripping off a bandage_ , he told himself.

“Maybe I wanted to.”

Eren’s eyes widened as he looked at him, shock etched into his face as he seemed to try and take in those words. Then it looked as if he decided on something, a determined look on his face as he spoke again.

“What if I wanted you to do it again then?”

Jean couldn’t help but snort, nor was he able to stop the smile from spreading on his lips.

“Yeah, I could do that,” he replied, warmth spreading in his stomach at the sight of Eren smiling back at him.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact for you guys: In my headcanon for this story, Jean and Eren moved in together when Jean was still kinda struggling with the modelling stuff, but over time he got more gigs and even though he could then also afford to get a new apartment for his own he never did because he didn’t want to leave Eren even if he didn’t fully admit it to himself, and Eren was too dumb to ever question it.
> 
> Also, Mikasa and Armin was for some reason nowhere to be found in this story, don’t ask me why lmao


End file.
